...Kanchanaburi Tour: War memorial. JEATH Museum. Bridge over the River Kwai. Elephant Trek. Soi Yok Noi waterfall. Tiger Temple...

What an amazing day. I wanted to do something memorable today as it would have been my nan's 75th birthday, plus its the 07/07/07. Went on a trip to Kanchanaburi and besides the complete mayhem of the lack of organisation and uncertainty of the guides about who was meant to be going where it was absolutely brilliant.

First stop was at the war memorial which is in honour of the POWs and civilians who died constructing a railway from Burma to Siam (now Thailand) in the Second World War under the Japanese forces. We then went to the JEATH Museum, a war museum about the bridge over the River Kwai. Both were very humbling and moving experiences.

Afterwards we took a long tail boat converted into a speed boat down the River Kwai. This was absolutely mental. The speed the driver got out of it was great. It was crazy we were dodging through these floating bars and buildings that were on the river plus having little races with the other boats. Complete adrenalin buzz.

When we got to the bridge you could understand why there were so many fatalaties during the building of this huge steel construction considering that it was supposed to take five years to build but the Japanese pushed everyone to do it in 16 months.

We then went onto the Elephant trek and this had to be the best part of the trip (pretty obvious considering their my favourite animal). The elephants were really well trained and seemed to be really happy and free. The ride was fantastic and we had a proper trek surrounded by the gorgeous scenery. I got to sit around the Elephants neck for a while which was really cool, its ears were so soft and lovely!

Afterwards we briefly visited the Soi Yok Noi waterfall which was gorgeous. We then headed off to the Tiger Temple which was alo great. We got to play with a four month old cub (which decided it wanted to try and have a nibble on my ear) and then went and had some more photos in Tiger Canyon. They really are gorgeous creatures.

Photo: Elephant trek

[Next blog entry: Bangkok Sunday July 8th 2007]